Her Lovely Bones
by Trixxie
Summary: I read the lovely bones and this is my version of it ala sailor moon
1. Chapter 1

After reading The Lovely Bones (by Alice Sebold) I came up with this story. Pardon the darkness…. Enjoy.

Night, night seemed to fall almost instantly as I gathered my courage to leave the school. Life had a way of getting by after tragedy as it had once we defeated Galaxia. My life seemed to get along anyhow, some people couldn't be expected to forget and move on. I was their champion I had no choice. It had happened quickly, a flicker of time frozen for just a moment. The dust cleared, the pain of loss faded and we stood, solders of justice united once more. Michiru and Haruka took Hotaru to England expecting to give her a different kind of life. Setsuna made her way back to the gates of time promising to visit more often than she had. Rei fell into herself feeling the most pressure to succeed and the weight of her failure; no one had heard from her since the wedding. Minako became the opposite stepping into the spot light of an idol as she toured the world as a star. Ami did exactly what we all thought, Ami studied. Mamoru and I married and after a year had our first child, Chibi-usa. The world she had traveled from in the future was no longer a realization as the terror of evil had been destroyed; she did however enjoy the stories we told her. Makoto owned a diner, she spent her days cooking and her nights drinking gin and trying anything to forget that night.

'Usagi!'

'Hai.' I said leaning into the cool breeze of the August night smiling brightly at my dear friend Ami.

'I never expected to see you leaving a school at this late hour.' Ami said closing her eyes in the wind.

'Mamo-chan wants me to study harder, as a good wife I want to do as he says.'

'Usagi-chan you are so good to him.' Ami laughed wrapping one of her thin arms through my own. 'Let's get bubble tea and catch up.' I brightened at the prospect of sweets and let her pull me to the local diner. We took seats next to the window and ordered our tea and cake. Ami spoke first. 'It's been too long.'

'Hai.' I agreed happily. It really had been none of us had been together since I married Mamoru, and only a few had come for the birth of Chibi-usa.

'How is Chibi-usa-chan?' Ami asked once our tea was left on the table. I took a long sip and shoved my fork into the cake.

'Fine.' I said through vanilla layers. Ami smiled. 'She's going to be two in a month, she's smarter than any other two year old but that's not surprising.'

'No. Not for Chibi-usa.'

'She's exactly the same though. She remembers Crystal Tokyo and is still sure it's coming.' I sipped my tea and stare for a moment thinking of my small child, her lust for adventure so different from my need to hide away from the things that go bump. How our lives were different, she would likely never be called to safe the world, as she so desperately longed for yet I had the honor more times than I liked.

'What are you taking at the college?'

'Household and finance. Mamoru thinks it's best if I get better at being a wife.' I frowned at this truth.

'He loves you.'

'Hai.' I agreed regaining my cheer. Mamoru did love me, of that there was no question. And I wanted to be a good wife for him, a good mother for Chibi-usa. It was hard for me, I was to easily distracted and the usual things that came easy to a woman didn't come for me at all. Ami's watch beeped and set off a series of events I watched in wonder and surprise. Ami nodded to her watch as if to acknowledge its beep, she then pulled open her bag and removed a small bottle, from the bottle she pulled three blue pills and placing them onto the whipped cream of her cake, ate them. She sat quiet for a moment before her eyes met mine.

'It's for my anxiety.' She said softly. I said nothing. When we parted that night I wondered how it was that I, the barer of the most tragic of the events could have moved past it when so many of my friends were left unable. I made my way to the bus station and stood where my bus would pick up. Mamoru would be worried because I was late but he would understand once I explained things. Chibi-usa would be asleep. I saw the bus round the corner and slow coming to a stop just in front of me. I stepped onto the bus and took the only remaining seat next to an older gentleman; this would be the last action I did willingly.

The bus drove by my stop hurried, hurried because I had not requested the stop, hurried because I could no longer speak without the threat of death. The gentleman next to me held my long hair in his hand, a large sharp knife was placed against my abdomen and the people on the bus were crowded together in fear. He'd yelled at us in a language we didn't understand before pulling the knife and grabbing me. The driver was told to drive in English and he did. Several macho men tried to reason with the gentleman but they were unsuccessful, he didn't speak the language and we didn't understand him. The bus turned hard and rocked as we left the main roads for a back road. 'Stop.' The gentleman demanded in broken English; the bus stopped. My heart leaped at the prospect of being let go, but I wasn't so lucky. The gentleman held the knife to my throat as he lifted me up from the seat; my bag dropped to the floor as he pulled me off of the bus. I screamed for help but was met with the gentleman's fist into my jaw. 'Drive.' He told the bus, he repeated it louder and louder until the driver, giving me a soulful look, obeyed. We were in a rice field, it was wet and muddy under my feet and I slipped while trying to keep up with my kidnapper as he dragged me. I was mumbling pleads, begging him to let me go. He said nothing as he walked, dragging me behind him. I worried about what he was planning, was this kidnapping for ransom? A rape? Did he know who I was? Did he care? Finally he stopped moving and I took in my surroundings. He said something to me and I couldn't understand him instead I stared at him, trying to look innocent and weak. He held the knife to my throat.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two.

Warmth and cool washed over me as I slowly came to, warmth from the water streaming around my body cool from the air in places the water escaped. I coughed and groaned as I moved from the dirt feeling instantly lighter. I stood up and looked around; the field was dark save for a single bright light above me. I looked down at my feet only to find the battered crumpled body that had been mine. Somewhere in my mind I had already known, this was the passage to the afterlife. I stepped out of my former self and into the squishy dampness of the field looking at myself with particular interest, my killer was seated next to me his body naked from the waist down as the memory of him raping me stirred. He had held me down in the dirt pushing into me hard as the knife pierced my throat, he'd come inside me violently then spit on me before dragging the blade deep into my throat and ending my life. I moved to face him; now clearly recognizing his background, he was Middle Eastern and he was crying. I waited a moment, watching my killer stare at the blood on his hands, I watched him smile and look down at himself his penis hard. I watched as he moved my body to please him then rape the corpse that was me. The wind picked up around me, my killer didn't notice it but I did. I was being pushed, forced to follow the bright light, called if you will to the other side. I welcomed it letting my feet escape the earth as my body soared into the light. 'Welcome Princess.' A voice said once my feet were firmly planted on a clear glass floor. I looked down through it and saw my killer raping my corpse.

'Where am I?' I asked feeling lost and unsure. Heaven I had been told would be a wonderful place with all the cake I could eat and all the games I could play.

'You are in limbo.' The voice said. I squinted my eyes hoping to see the owner of the voice beyond the light, I could not.

'What am I doing here?'

'You are here Princess Serenity because your time on earth was not to be finished yet. You were to have a longer life than this and your killer has robbed you of that. Limbo is chances to enjoy your life although not live it.'

'I don't understand.'

'You will watch your child grow, your friends enjoy their lives, your husband move on but you will never again be alive.' The voice was calming even if the words were unbearable.

'I see.' I said letting a tear escape my eyes. I glanced below me at the field; my killer had finished and was now heading for the road. Police cars were sailing toward him and soon I knew he would be caught. I felt redeemed.

Anyone who knew me while I was alive would say death aged me. In my reality I had been full of life, almost overly. I can see that now; how my hyperactive self seemed to at times burden those I cared for. It was my personality that brought them all together however and that they missed the most. My funeral was for family and friends only, and from limbo I watched as people I had not seen in years filed into the small church Mamoru and I had been married in to say their goodbyes. The voice on my arrival day told me I would want to be with my family, and that if I had willed it enough they may feel me around them. I would have to focus but I would grant both them and myself a bit more time. At my funeral I watched Chibi-usa I willed myself so much to be with her, to hold her when she cried and to wipe her tears away. I watched from limbo as she hugged herself holding on to whatever pieces of me she could my wedding ring around her neck, my hair ties laced through her pink buns.

'I'm so sorry Mamoru-san.' Haruka said shaking Mamoru's hand as my casket was lowered into the cool ground. 'I heard they're giving the guy the firing squad.'

'Hai.' Mamoru nodded stiffly.

'Come on Mamo-chan.' Rei said. Gently she wrapped her arm around Mamoru and pulled him along with her. Chibi-usa followed them, tears flowing down her cheeks dripping onto the ground as she walked.

'I don't know what to say to him.' Haruka complained rejoining Michiru at the site of my grave.

'How could you?' Michiru asked taking her lovers hand into her own. 'You would be destroyed if I were killed Ruka, imagine how he feels. Helpless and alone and with a child; all we can do is be available to him.'

'Rei has pretty much taken the job of wife since she got the call about Usagi.' Makoto said pulling her scarf out of her purse.

'Is that really good for either of them?' Haruka asked.

'Rei needed to be distracted and we all know she likes to feel in charge. This is probably the best thing for her medically.' Ami said quietly.

'I can't believe she's gone.' Minako said wiping her eyes as she stare into the grave. 'Not just Usagi, but our Princess.'

'I guess that means the world no longer needs her. The silver crystal would have saved her if she was still needed.' Makoto said.

Slowly the group separated Haruka gently pulled Michiru while Minako, Setsuna and Hotaru lingered only a moment more. Makoto and Ami were the last to leave, finally dropping the last of the roses over my grave. A tear escaped from my eyes rolling slowly down my cheek and dripping from my chin landing on the clear glass floor. 'I miss you already.' I said aloud.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Time seemed to stop in limbo, I watched as the world below me regained normality. Haruka and Michiru were planning their wedding and joy filled me watching them. My friends had decided to make a real effort to spend time together since my death, realizing that our time together was more fragile then they had once thought. Winter filtered onto Earth with a soft white grace, covering the green grass and dusting over the grey roads. I watched Chibi-usa as she ran from our home jumping hard into a pile of freshly shoveled snow. 'Watch me daddy.' She yelled. Mamoru stood in the doorway, his green sweater closed tightly around his body. I smiled missing his scent.

'Be careful Chibi-chan.' He said. His tone had changed I noticed, when I was alive he was always sweet and soft. I would scream and yell at Chibi-usa begging her and willing her to see my way and do as I said, Mamo-chan would coax her gently and she would fold. I was jealous. Now he held firm.

'Lunch.' The sing song voice of Rei echoed through my limbo as I watched my Mamo-chan turn to kiss her cheek. Chibi-usa abandoned her snow angles and obeyed the call to come inside. Rei was in the kitchen serving the lunch of rice and fish; Mamo-chan wandered into the den and kissed the same picture of me he'd kissed since my death. It was taken the day before our wedding; we called it our last real picture. I was smiling overly and he had his hand on my back. We looked happy. Chibi-usa was already seated at the table when Mamo-chan returned, he sat next to her and they began to eat. Eating was something I missed from living. In death you didn't become hungry or at least normal limbo souls didn't, I was hungry.

Spring flowers scented my limbo; the days were always stuck in the soft pink-grey colour of early dawn. The gentle song of birds filled the emptiness when my family and friends were asleep. There were times I would watch my killer, he sat in a jail cell awaiting his death, his county had tried to extradite him, begged for Japan to release him to stand trial in his native land, and Japan declined. He'd murdered a young wife and mother; he would die here just as I had. Little did they know, did the world know, they had lost more than just a simple wife and mother. The moon kingdom had also lost their only queen. Chibi-usa would take her role as Neo-Queen Serenity with gusto no doubt if the title was needed. My killer spent his nights laying awake and watching the ceiling, it looked more like he was staring right at me rather then the discolored cement above him. He would mutter to himself in various languages, some I recognized most I didn't. He had no visitors apart from his lawyer and me, and in a way that Haruka would say only I could, I felt sorry for him. I don't know why he killed me, I don't know what kind of life he had before jail but I do know that someone, somewhere wishes he were safe and near; and for that I am merciful.

I would also watch the galaxy; I believe I was special with this task as most of the dead could only watch earth. Because I was princess of the moon and would be queen of the future I had an eye for things beyond earth. I watched Setsuna at her post beyond the walls of time. I watched her in length while my family slept and quietly I envied her. I was dead, people had reason to exist beyond me but she was alive and yet stuck in a solitude she had never deserved. I wished I could be as ok with my situation as she was; she stood at the gate of time ready for anything. Silence wrapped around her, calm. When these nights became too much I would watch Haruka and Michiru they always brought a smile to my face. True love was hard to remember watching my Mamo-chan try and survive without me. But on harder nights I would watch Haruka tickle Michiru until her giggles even caused me to laugh. I would watch Michiru rub Haruka's feet as Haruka told her about the day's race. Michiru would nod appropriately working the stress from her lover's feet. Hotaru would spend hours reading and researching on her computer, content to listen to the hum of her adoptive parents from the next room. When things got to heated both Hotaru and I would find something else to do.

I hated to watch Ami; she held so much guilt for my death. Ami, being the last to see me alive, felt as if she could have saved me. If she had only offered to walk with me, take the bus with me, if only. I prayed for her to lose this guilt, to accept that nothing she could have done would have saved me. I still pray for this.

Watching Minako was lighter, when she was working anyway. She was always surrounded by cameras and lights, fans and noise. I would watch her until she was alone then things got hard. I watched as she pulled the small necklace from around her neck and open the locket inside was a white powder. I watched as she laid the powder on her compact mirror and lower her face to it snorting it up then coughing. She shook her head and cleaned the mirror off with her finger, rubbing the access against her gums. She had a number of lovers, some didn't look very nice and others were flakes of people. They would please her in the back of limos or in the bathroom of whatever event she was hosting, or being honored at. They would do the drugs together, Minako from her necklace and her lover from her center, snorting the drugs while he or she would lick and suck at Minako. I forced myself to watch this, willing myself to her trying desperately from my own jail to free her from the one she had built. I'm sure she saw me once, her legs wrapped around a dirty looking man she was moaning in pleasure until she began to scream at me to leave her alone. I promised myself I would never do that.

Mako-chan dealt the best diving into her work. The night of my funeral she arrived back at her restaurant and baked a cheese soufflé she took each bottle of gin and dumped it into the trash taking a sip before swearing she would right herself to make me proud. Mako-chan would spend hours talking to me. She would tell me everything that was going on in her life. 'Usagi-san!' she would scream and I would immediately avert my attention from whatever I was watching and pay attention to her. 'I met a boy! Yes I did, he's sweet and funny and you would love him. He might just eat more than you ever did. Oh who am I kidding that isn't possible.' I would laugh and wait until her story was done before willing something good happen to her. The boy she had met turned out to be nothing more than a friend. He was interested in a girl who knew Minako and not the woman who was Makoto. I felt bad for her but she was ok, she told me this repeatedly. 'It's not easy with you gone Usagi-chan, but I'm ok. I have to be ok.'

Rarely did I watch my parents. My father had left his job and was in retirement they had forced him to leave after my death. My mother had turned to crafts to keep herself busy and away from my father. He would spend days in my room looking over the things I had cherished as a child. He made himself phone Chibi-usa every evening to hear about her day, it pained him but he found the cheery voice of his grand-daughter worthy of the pain.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

'Mamo-chan.' Rei's gentle voice called pulling me from watching my killer. She was standing in the doorway to the room that we had shared as a married couple. Our bedroom was the one place Rei had not yet ventured. She would clean the whole house but never enter the bedroom, she had mentally told herself that was still my domain, still my place to be with him. Today she was testing herself, and him.

'Hai.' Mamo said.

'I have made a lunch box for you. Tomorrow is the food fair at Chibi-usa's daycare and I will attend if you are too busy.'

'You're not her mother.' Mamo said his tone hurtful and flat.

'I know.' Rei said tears brimming against her eyes. 'I was only trying to help. If you'd rather go I'll stay here and prepare dinner.' I watch Mamo-chan battle himself holding back tears that had wished to fall since my funeral but couldn't. He wouldn't look weak in front of his child, and not in front of Rei.

'I miss her.' Rei said feeling it was what he wanted to hear.

'She left.' He said and a piece of me felt cold. I didn't leave. I didn't have a choice, I was taken.

'She didn't ask to leave.' Rei said defending me as she had always been accustomed.

'She's still gone.'

'Hai. She is.' Rei sighed turning from the bedroom and slowly walking down the hall. She walked straight past the kitchen and the guest room she'd been sleeping in. She walked right out the door and continued down the street almost in a haze. Rei didn't' stop walking until she reached Makoto's restaurant. 'Can I stay here?' Rei asked once Makoto had opened the door.

'Of course.' Mako smiled letting Rei into her small apartment.

'Kiss me.' Rei said tear falling down her cheeks. Mako blushed hard but obeyed her friends request kissing her gently at first and then as the passion broke through the kiss became less about fulfilling a request and more about fulfilling a need. I watched them, smiling to myself as I witnessed their coping. I blushed as Rei pulled her clothes off her body was still in perfect warrior form where Makoto's had softened. Rei was kissing her with passion, threading her fingers through Mako's deep brown hair. Mako caressed her hand up Rei's body lingering at her breast. I felt a bit like I was watching a train wreck, the saying was you couldn't take your eyes away and I really couldn't. Mamo-chan was sitting on our bed crying, Minako was singing to a sold out show, Ami was doing rounds, Haruka,. Michiru and Hotaru were playing a board game and Rei was pulling Mako's whites off nipping her teeth at Mako's neck.

'God I missed you.' Mako sighed as she stepped out of her pants. I blushed harder now feeling the pang of never seeing the attraction between my friends.

'I'm sorry.' Rei panted bending to kiss Mako's now exposed chest. They were lovers, it was clear to me now. I watched them touch each other in a knowing way, kissing the right places when Rei kissed her way down Mako's body I turned my attention to my sleeping baby. I watched Chibi-usa until the pleasured screams of missed love called me back to Mako and Rei. They were folded into each other laying on the floor of Mako's apartment, still naked and covered in a light sheen of sweat.

When dawn broke on earth Mako was alone and Rei was back to her duty of wife to my husband. Mamo-chan had passed out in his clothes and wasn't roused when Rei snuck back into our home just before the light joined her. She hummed in the kitchen as she prepared toast and jam for Chibi-usa and made strong coffee for Mamo-chan. I smiled down to her, willing her to know how much I appreciated her. Knowing now how much she was giving up to take my place. Rei had always been designed to be my number two, my replacement. Little did either of us know how she'd be tested.

I felt something in my stomach something that called to me. I looked around my bubble searching for something that calmed the ache in me. When I found it I wanted to vomit. Minako was sitting in a lavish hotel bathroom, the drugs were all over the floor and a man was over her his hand wrapped around her long blond hair he was screaming at her but she was too out of it to understand him. He was demanding money. I felt my world getting smaller. 'Pay me.' He screamed but Minako just stare at him her eyes glazed over. He put a knife to her throat and screamed again.

'No.' I said holding my breath, which did nothing but I felt it necessary. He pulled her standing by her hair and she looked at him, her blue eyes coating in pain and drugs.

'Fuck you.' She said. He dropped her then, letter her head smack against the vanity. Blood dripped from the cut in her head. The man laughed grabbing her arm and raising it to his level he undid his pants and cupped her hand around his erection. 'Getting jacked by the famous Minako.' He laughed. Mina was unconscious and I was happy for that, once he had pleased himself he dropped her hand, and picked up his knife running the blade over her wrist letting the deep red of her blood cover him before he left. 'Whore.' He said.

'Whatcha doin?' the cheery voice of my dear friend scared me. Limbo was supposed to be my home until heaven granted me access.

'Minako?' I said turning from the vision of her body on the floor of the hotel to face her smiling face.

'Usagi.' She laughed

'You can't.' I started.

'I wasn't really alive down there, I feel better now.' She said taking my hand and pulling me to sit with her on the edge of our limbo.

'So that's it for you?' I asked.

'I guess so.' She said looking down at the sight of her body twisted and bloody. She laughed.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

It had been a year; a whole year yet time didn't seem to move at all for me. Minako and I sat at the edge of our limbo watching as our friends and my family gathered at my grave to remember me. Rei held Mako's hand and I told Minako what I had seen.

'Really? Wow, I never would have guessed.' She laughed. Candles were lit and even though no one spoke there was a gentle hum. In his cell my killer paced, today was his sentence and he was anxious. Three guards shackled and searched him before pulling him into the corridor of the prison. Minako watched my memorial while I watched him. He struggled walking in the shackles but said nothing, a priest came to offer him last rights and he declined. His face was covered with what looked like a small black pillow case, he stood against a stone wall; it got very loud for only a moment as the shots fired. Then he was dead.

Half of me expected to see my killer as I had Minako, another addition to my limbo; I did not. Minako wiped a tear from her eye and hugged her legs close to her, it had been eight weeks since her death and the tabloids were still using it as ammunition. Rumors of her death had spread like wild fire, murder, suicide, drugs and a party lifestyle. Minako tried to ignore the hurtful things said by her critics and focus on the people who held vigils for her. My family and friends were breaking up around my grave when Minako turned to me and said quietly. 'It was hard when you left.'

'What do you mean?' I said sitting next to her and watching the damp ground below us.

'After we had beat Galaxia and the world was safe.' She started. 'You left us, you had been our leader, and you understood us and held us together like glue. But you left. You married Mamo-chan and abandoned us.' Her words were not a surprise to me in limbo, on Earth they would have crushed me but here truth is accepted; I nodded. 'It was easy for me to become an idol, and at first I loved it. There were people everywhere screaming my name, and no longer was I just the assistant or the girl next to Haruka-san. I was Minako, star.' She took a deep breath. 'But then it got really hard. The touring was a nightmare I never got any sleep and was expected to always look beautiful and say the right thing. I was at a party for an American idol when she offered me some powder. She told me it would help keep me awake and stabilize. I was hooked. I couldn't live without it, touring got easier because I was never tired. I lost thirty pounds because I never ate and when I did it was usually thrown up when the drugs were slipping from my system. Coming down was painful so I tried to never come down. I would drink but not as often as I did the coke. The coke was my crutch. I knew I had a problem, but I didn't care. I couldn't stop. I would sell anything to get a fix, sometimes I didn't have access to my bank accounts and dealers don't take credit so I would do things, sexual things.'

'I know.'

'Oh.' She scoffed. 'What you saw was nothing Usagi-chan.' I frowned I had seen enough. 'What you saw was the end, but there was so much more. I was a mega-star and some of the dealers loved how much control they had over me. I would be tied to a bed and used by groups of people for sex. But as long as I got a fix first I didn't care. There was one time I went to my dealer in Russia and he told me he had real good stuff, pure stuff that would make me stop feeling, it was three days after your death and I was desperate not to feel. I took it, once I snorted it I felt light as air. He was a fan of my willingness to do anything for the blow and when he suggested I strip naked and dance for him I thought I was getting off easy. I don't remember much from that night but when I came to my face was swollen and every part of my body hurt. He had video of himself having sex with me, putting himself into every place he could. I couldn't sit for a week but the blow was great.' She stared off into space and I sat quietly. 'I did women too.' She added after a moment. 'They were usually more gentle. There was a time I considered becoming a lesbian, maybe hiding from the world in the arms of a beautiful woman. A German hustler let his girlfriend fuck me with a baseball bat while I sucked his cock, and I decided I was happier single.'

'How were you at all happy?'

'I was surviving, and no one knew what I did in my off time. I kept my private life away from the media, away from my fans. It was the only thing I had control over. I would wake up at 4 am and head to rehearsal around 10 we'd be off to some press junket then I would be in makeup and voice lessons. Then there was the show which I loved but after I would be so high on adrenaline I couldn't sleep if I wanted to. Finally around 2 I would fall asleep only to do it all again the next day. It was hard. I wasn't strong enough for it. 'Minako was quiet again, her eyes locked on something in the distance; something I couldn't see and wondered if I even wanted to.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

With my killer now dead my focus was on watching my friends. Rei was now living full time with Mamo-chan and quickly becoming a mother to Chibi-usa. Neither of whom knew of her affair with Makoto. Tuesday afternoons was their meetings and Minako and I strangely lived for these moments. Pieces of joy in shattered lives, as we called it watching them kiss and caress. In the early afternoons they would lay naked in bed together having made love after eating lunch in Mako-chan's restaurant. Rei would smoke a cigarette as Mako-chan would tell her about the customers. Rei would stare up at us and we would consider her physic ability, could she see us?

Minako would wander off at times, she would watch her killer. Her killer had never been a suspect everyone thought Minako had killed herself. Minako watched him daily, willing evil upon him, hoping for some type of redemption, I wondered if she deserved it but I said nothing. It was a Tuesday when he was hit by a train and paralyzed by the waist down; Minako felt vengeance had been hers.

Haruka and Michiru were days away from their wedding as fall began to change the colours of the trees. Their wedding had become a new fascination for Minako and I as we watched Michiru trying on dress after dress while Haruka paced around chirping how beautiful her fiancé was no matter what dress she wore. It was true, Michiru was beyond beautiful, each dress the sales woman gave her created a radiance our limbo could feel. Michiru and Haruka were warm, and Minako and I enjoyed this. Each of our friends held fear and pain, each of them struggled with our past and held our deaths close to them. Haruka and Michiru held nothing but each other, they had love for us but we were never on the front of their mind. Within them we were safe, sacred memories that crept up here and there but were never met with sadness. Watching them became easy and preferred to our closer friends who felt cold and whom we longed to comfort.

A deep blue set against the backdrop of the Japanese country side, Michiru was dressing in a long white gown and Haruka stood waiting for her wearing a black tuxedo. Hotaru's dress was a mixture of violet and sheer gold, her hair was up with wisps around her face, and she looked older. Music started, a solo violin played to near perfection in comparison with Michiru, slowly began to walk down the isle. I giggled as I watched scanning the room to observe the faces of the crowed. Rei stood next to Mamo-chan, her fingers enlaced with his, her head gently placed on his shoulder in both need and comfort. Chibi-usa stood in front of them, her pink hair down. Mako-chan stood on the other side of the hall her hair now barely meeting her shoulders her eyes focused on Rei. Ami was next to Mako-chan her body was frail and her eyes bloodshot. Minako and I glanced at each other, we'd not watched Ami in weeks and we were now concerned. The ceremony was beautiful each woman agreed to love and cherish the other until a time when the cosmos would no longer allow; knowing full well the world and any other force could never break their bond.

I focused on Ami after that day, watching her wake early and prepare her breakfast of coffee. She would walk to the hospital unable to afford anything more. Rounds came first and she would visit each patient in her care and at times those who were not. By lunch she was exhausted sitting in the doctor's lounge alone. Her lunch was a small box of rice and water, which she ate slowly letting it fill her. After lunch she would visit the children's ward and read to the sick kids. Her nights were spent reading and checking in on the patients she knew would be missing her before heading home to start again. Ami was depressing.

'What the hell do you expect me to do?' the screaming voice of Rei tore Minako and I from watching Ami. She was standing in the middle of Mako-chan apartment, they were both crying.

'I expect you to be here Rei; I'm tired of being your little mistress.' Mako shouted.

'I can't. Mamo-chan is barely getting by as it is. He needs me Mako-koi.'

'Don't you dare.' Mako said fresh tears filling here eyes. 'Don't you dare try to make me feel like he's lost more than I have. He lost his wife, and I'm damn near losing mine.'

'We never made anything official.' Rei said quietly. I looked to Minako and we both frowned.

'We didn't you're right.' Mako-chan said running her arm across her nose to take away the mucous. Her eyes were puffy and her face damp. 'I love you Rei and if you can't give me anything back then what are we doing?'

'I love you too Mako-koi, but I can't give you anything more. I can't hurt Mamo-chan, I wont. He's been through so much.'

'Then go.' Makoto demanded. She turned from Rei and made her way to her bedroom. Rei followed her. 'Rei, go. Please I need you to go.' Makoto slumped onto her bed tears and fits of sobs escaped her, Rei turned and made her way out of the apartment.

Minako and I followed Rei from Mako-chan's apartment to the home I once shared with Mamo-chan. She headed straight for the bathroom cleaning herself up before starting dinner in the kitchen. Her eyes were less bloodshot and her face less puffy when Mamoru arrived home. He was stiff and sore from his day and Rei instantly went to him massaging his shoulders to ease the tension. My heart tore when my Mamo-chan pulled Rei closer and kissed her, as he would have done with me, as he had only done with me. Rei kissed him back, letting her heart give up its love for Makoto and accept the new life she was designing. I was destroyed.

It was that day the Rei moved completely into my home, and my bed. Minako held me as I cried feeling intense loss for the first time in limbo. I stopped watching Mamoru and Rei, focusing all my attention on Haruka and Michiru, enjoying their love because it felt warm and reminded me of Earth. I would spend hours watching them, dissecting every inch of their lives, I wouldn't even shy away when they would make love. I liked watching them give each other such pleasure. Minako took to watching everyone else, she was worried about Mako-chan but I ignored her, I couldn't handle pain then mine or anyone else's. I was watching Haruka shower when Minako screamed. I turned to face her, my reaction stiff. 'What?'

'Mako-chan!' she said.

'Yes?' I asked simply, letting my gaze drift back to the naked Haruka.

'She's downing sleeping pills with vodka.' Minako rushed. I turned to look at Makoto finishing her signature on the bottom of a note.

'Oh great, an actual suicide.' I frowned. 'What is she thinking?' I moved next to Minako and we watched Makoto trying together to will our friend away from her decision.

'I have to.' She said as if hearing us. 'I can't live like this anymore. It hurts to much, I can't. I wont.' She took another swig of the vodka and the room began to spin. Minako and I stared at each other waiting, without speaking, for Makoto to join us in limbo. Where Minako sauntered into limbo, Makoto fell hard. 'I wont get to heaven.' She said once she opened her eyes. 'But hell, I'm here now.' We hugged each other for a moment then as if nothing had changed; I went back to watching Haruka. She was out of the shower and rushing to the phone, Hotaru had fainted in school she needed to be picked up.

'Killing yourself was stupid.' Minako said frankly. 'Especially over Rei.'

'Should have killed Rei.' I mumbled. I had slowly began to accept Rei with Mamoru but I wasn't about to pretend to be happy about it.

'Now now.' Makoto smiled.

With Makoto now in limbo my world seemed to be brighter, my friends were near me and I was no longer sad about not being alive. Makoto willed food and with her near Minako and I felt somehow valid in ourselves. We ate for hours, stopping only to laugh about days when we had been great. We chatted about our memories and spent full days not watching our families and friends but talking and just enjoying each other. 'I wonder what happens next?' Makoto asked one afternoon, breaking the silence that had developed.

'Well I was told we go to heaven.'

'This is heaven enough for me.' Minako smiled.

'Me too.' Makoto agreed.

'I agree.' Came the high pitched song voice of Ami. Makoto, Minako and I looked at each other for a moment before finally gazing at Ami. She stood in our limbo, her body not as frail as it had looked at Michiru and Haruka's wedding, her hair was long and tied back, she looked tired but happy.

'Ami, what are you doing here?' I asked jumping up to hug her.

'I guess I finally wore myself out.' She pointed to where her body lay, crumpled in a call room. 'I look like I'm sleeping but I suffered an aneurism about three hours ago.'

'What have you been doing for three hours?' Minako asked.

'Watching you. Time here stops. I like it here, I can see all of my patients at once.' Ami grinned. I looked around at my friends and wondered if this was indeed meant to be our heaven that maybe our surroundings would change once the rest of our group had arrived. The thought of everyone being here made me sad, I wanted my family and friends to live yet here they were one by one arriving in the after.

Ami's presence brought us closer together we felt more like a force and less alone. We would spend our days watching Haruka and Michiru and our evenings in our own corners of limbo watching whatever and whomever we chose. Ami would watch her patients wondering how they were coping, Makoto would watch Rei wishing her former lover had shown more emotion over her death. Minako would watch celebrities she'd been friends with occasionally watching her killer trying to live his life through a wheel chair, this gave her a morbid joy. I would watch Chibi-usa. My heart had abandoned Mamo-chan to Rei but Chibi-usa was still my daughter, and even though she would tell everyone she had coped better then most her pain was clear to me. Rei would make an effort to tuck her into bed at night, kissing her gently on the cheek before shutting out the light. It was then that my daughter would crawl from her bed and tip toe her small four year old body across her bedroom floor to the bottom drawer of her desk; buried inside was a picture of her and I. She was barely three months old but already her fingers were laced through my pigtails my face in the picture was pure joy mixed with minor annoyance, her face was a huge smile. She would kiss this picture and tell me how much she missed me, how Rei was more capable of being a wife and mother but how I had a certain something no one could replace. She would bring the picture to bed with her and fall asleep clutching it only to return it to the desk in the morning before Rei came in to wake her. I was still alive, in the heart of my daughter at least.

It was the third anniversary of my death that I felt the change. My body felt warm to me, warmer than even the hottest fever on earth. I was worried but I said nothing. I watched quietly with my friends as Michiru arrived home from the doctor's office with news that she was pregnant. Haruka and Michiru had been to fertility clinics and were finally going to be parents. Hotaru was ecstatic at the prospect of a baby brother or sister. Ami, Minako, Makoto and I had grown silent not needing to speak to each other to convey how we felt. I wondered if my voice would even work any longer. We watched silently as Michiru grew larger, her stomach swelling with the promise of new life. My body grew hotter by the day, I wondered if somehow I had failed and was being tortured. The heat wasn't painful, just hot.

'A girl.' Haruka laughed closing her newspaper and looking at Michiru. 'Perfect.' She smiled standing and making her way over to her lover. Haruka kissed Michiru gently on the lips before placing a hand on the swollen belly of her wife.

'I want to name her Usako.' Michiru said as the child kicked in her stomach.

'I think that sounds wonderful.' Haruka nodded.

'That's sweet of them.' Ami said. I nodded.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

On April 2 Michiru went into labor, her body no longer the home for the growing baby inside her. Limbo suddenly felt small as the heat within me took over. My friends watched anxiously to welcome the new baby into the world. I couldn't. I felt the floor below me slipping, and try as I might I couldn't hold on. 'Help.' I said reaching out for Minako. She looked through me. 'Where is Usagi?' she asked. 'I'm here.' I shouted suddenly feeling sick to my stomach.

'Push Kaioh-san.' Dr. Helana commanded pushing Michiru's legs further apart making room for the baby. 'I can see her head.' Haruka stood behind the doctor watching her wife give birth. The smile on her face could only be described as proud.

'You are doing great baby.' Haruka cheered.

'Shut up.' Michiru grunted baring down in a push. She stopped for a moment to breath as the doctor maneuvered the baby.

'Ok Kaioh-san one more good one.' And Michiru pushed, hard. The crack of the babies cry broke through the room and tears traveled down Haruka's face.

'She's perfect.' Haruka muttered.

The doctor tended to Michiru as the nurse took the infant to the bassinet for cleaning and assessment. 'She's healthy.' The nurse said handing the swaddled baby to Haruka. 'Congratulations.'

'Hello Usako.' Haruka smiled looking to the eyes of her child. An air bubble escaped the baby's mouth warming Haruka's heart. 'You did so good lover.' She said to Michiru who lay sweaty and tired and wanting badly to hold her baby. 'Here.' Haruka said gently placing the pink bundle into Michiru's arms.

'Is it me or does she kind of look like Usagi?' Michiru said her voice strained.

'She does.'

'And it starts again.' Michiru smiled kissing her baby's soft head.

'Yes it does.' Haruka agreed.

High above the world settled into the clouds Minako, Makoto and Ami watched as Usagi's spirit encased around the new baby. 'I wonder if that will happen to us?' Minako asked aloud. 'I wonder.' Ami nodded. Makoto said nothing, her body felt warm and her attention was elsewhere.

'I'm pregnant.' Rei said sitting on her bed staring at the test results. 'Now what?'

The end.

Been so long since I wrote any really good Static. I hope you enjoyed it. Everyone should read the lovely bones.

Much love.

RR cuz you like me.

Trixx~


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